As we are Raleigh bound for school, I and a few undergraduate volunteers have been starting to look at the video footage taken on the artificial reef along Eastern Shores (click her for more detail). Our primarily goal for these videos is to look at relative fish abundance and diversity along our reef treatments. So far, we have seen vast differences in our reefs that represent high complex reefs. Just a little over a month we have been seeing up to 500 fish on these complex reefs. These findings are very encouraging to see as coral restoration efforts in the Bahamas are focusing on growing branching coral (Acropora spp.) to begin re-introducing structure complexity into reefs habitats.

In this clip I wanted to show you the differences we are seeing in our artificial reefs AND a sweet shot of a curious nurse shark swimming by!

Enjoy!